First-place Campbell flips script with long-range reliance

BUIES CREEK - Reco McCarter recently earned a spot on SportsCenter's top plays with a 360-degree dunk, but Campbell has performed more of a 180 this season.

The Camels, led by first-year head coach Kevin McGeehan, hold sole possession of first place in the Big South's North Division heading into an ESPNU home game against South Division leader Coastal Carolina on Saturday.

According to statistical guru Ken Pomeroy, Campbell (11-11, 5-2) ranks ninth nationally in 3-point reliance. It finished 340th out of 347 teams in the same category last season, when McGeehan was a Richmond assistant.

His implementation of a spread-motion offense triggered the drastic change.

"If a coach tells you to shoot, for any college basketball player, your heart should just keep beating," McCarter said. "He says to take shots you can make, and as a basketball player, that's what you want to do."

SPACE IT OUT

The Camels, whose 11 a.m. matchup with Coastal Carolina (12-9, 5-2) will be the first nationally televised home game in school history, are doing what McGeehan wants them to do.

Campbell has attempted 999 field goals against Division I competition this season, and 44.7 percent of the shots were 3-pointers. Princeton leads the country with a 50.7 percentage.

McGeehan worked with Richmond head coach Chris Mooney, a Princeton alum, for 14 of the previous 18 seasons and relocated to Campbell after the school fired Robbie Laing, whose injury-decimated group relied heavily on two-point shots. The top three scorers are gone from a team that shot a 3-pointer on 22.8 percent of its field goal attempts, but seven members of this year's 10-man rotation are returners.

"The first day we had workouts, when I tell you the guys were all inside the 3-point line, except for the guy with the ball, I'm not lying," said McGeehan, who runs an offense that starts with four players on the perimeter. "It was jammed in, and they weren't running to the spots where you naturally go to be open to help the next guy.

"I was like, 'Why are you jamming in there so much? Get wide and let the guy throw it to you and then go play with the next guy.’ There was a bit of reteaching of how to use your space."

McGeehan, who left a Richmond team that ranked 15th nationally in 3-point reliance and averaged 8.3 made 3s per game last season, instilled his new players with confidence as he installed the spread-motion offense. McGeehan believed that the transition would be difficult, but the team was better suited for the system than he had anticipated, and the players have also improved gradually.

PASS-FIRST APPROACH

The Camels rank 168th nationally by making 34.3 percent of their 3-point tries against Division I schools, a 3.1-percent increase from last season, and the numbers would be better if not for a two-game stretch in which they shot 7-for-51. Sharing the ball is an important part of Campbell’s offense, and McGeehan’s team ranks 22nd nationally by recording an assist on 60.0 percent of its field goals.

The philosophical switch has had the biggest impact on 6-foot-9 forward Darius Leonard, who went 9-for-26 from 3-point range as a Kent State freshman in 2010-11 and didn't attempt a 3 for Campbell last season. He has made 23 of his 61 attempts this season and is averaging 11.5 points, the second-highest total on the team.

Leonard often slides to an open spot near the top of the key after he sets a screen or makes a pass. He didn't have the green light to shoot in those situations last year.

"This year, if I pop back and I'm open and I don't take it, it's a problem," said Leonard, who matched his career high by making three 3s in a win against Charleston Southern on Wednesday. "I love the change. The coaches have bought into it that I can shoot being a big man, and they're allowing me to do it.

"The coaches are really giving me a chance, and I just don't want to let them down."

Leonard works with 6-9 assistant coach Dan Geriot, who made 41.5 percent of his 3-point attempts as a Richmond senior in 2011.

Geriot stresses the need for Leonard to hold his follow through, and he took jumpers on the first two possessions of a Nov. 16 loss at N.C. State. He started an overtime win against VMI the same way, making an early 3-pointer, and McCarter trusted Leonard enough to pass him the ball at the top of the key in the final seconds of regulation.

"I was initially excited when I realized he had that capability because that is what we want to be able to do," McGeehan said. "It makes us harder to guard if you have to go out and guard a 6-9 guy who can score in the post but also score on the perimeter."

OPTIONS ABOUND

McGeehan said the good Richmond teams he helped coach routinely hit 80 percent of their attempts during a shooting drill he brought to Buies Creek. Campbell hovered around 58 percent at the start of the year but has moved into the 70s, and McGeehan estimates that the Camels have taken only about one bad 3 per game.

Andrew Ryan has made 40 percent of his team-leading 115 attempts, and defensive stopper Leek Leek has hit 27 while shooting 44.3 percent. McCarter, Leonard, Luke Moyer and Antwon Oliver all have converted at least 17 attempts, and senior forward Marvelle Harris is even 1-for-3 after going a combined 0-for-2 in his first three seasons.

All nine Campbell players who appeared in the Big South opener against High Point shot a 3-pointer in the first half, and five players made at least one. The Camels finished the win with 28 field goals, and assists accompanied 25 of them.

Half of the team’s field goal attempts were 3-pointers, but Campbell achieved a high level of balance and unselfishness. There’s no better proof that McGeehan’s players have bought in to what he’s teaching.

“From day one, Coach told us we have the green light, that we all can shoot,” McCarter said. “With his offense, the spread motion, ever since then, we’ve all fell in love and believed in his system, and it’s showing.”

Staff writer Bret Strelow can be reached at strelowb@fayobserver.com or 486-3513.

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